Wow, its been so long since updates. But everyone writing has gotten me back in the mood for this again. So after many months of waiting I have one short chapter for you guys as I try to get back into the swing of things.

Thank you for the praise steele01! This helped me get off my lazy but to push this chapter out. Half a year later though. I'm sorry if I made you wait!

You happy now Meteor? I'm writing again. You can change from on hiatus to periodically updated.

Also Spaz, I'm writing! I'm writing! Don't rush me, I'm honored to have you as a reader though! Thank you guys!

OkamiWind, thank you for being the push I needed to finally pick up my pen to write again, but you're terrible! I should be studying! I hope you can pick some stuff out of my writing style though.

This is the first draft of the chapter so I might change some stuff up but I liked how it turned out. I hope everyone enjoys the latest chapter in Beyond the Horizon, meet the Tomoyuki family!

~Chapter 23: Meet the Family~

Bunta smiled at the unity that the Tomoyuki family shared. He couldn’t help but feel a small gnawing sadness growing at the bottom of his heart, it was impossible for his family to be this complete now. Or ever. A minute passed by, the little shiba inu yipped in delight as the hug dissolved itself. The eldest son spotted the dog chasing its own tail around in circles and bent down to pick it up, “See father? Even Hoko is happy to see you. Ryosuke has also recently informed me of this sequence of events. According to him and Mr. Fujiwara, the driver of the G25 is perfectly fine; in fact, it’s arguable that the turn of events happened to him for the better. So please, you don’t have to live in the past anymore.” The taller man held out the small panting dog.

Akihiko looked at his son and for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, he smiled. Taking up the shiba inu he spoke, his voice hoarse, “Sho, Katsuko… Hanako…” He looked at his wife the longest, “I’m so sorry for everything; I was so selfish I never stopped to think about the stress I was putting on my own family.” The pup started to whine and kick from being held so long, “I forget about you Hoko! I’m the worst aren’t I?” he set the dog down.

Hoko sprinted around to Hanako who knelt down and scratched him behind the ear, “Akihiko dear, you know that we will never stop loving you.”

Katsuko took her father’s hand in hers and look him straight in the eye, “Dad, this doesn’t change the way we look at you. I’ll always look up to you no matter what.”Akihiko looked at his family again, his gaze lingering on the youngest daughter who was holding his hand “Thank you…”

Hanako looked up from the puppy and finally noticed the outsider in their room. “So Akihiko dearest? Mind telling us who this is?”

“Oh!” The husband and father chuckled breathlessly and looked back at Bunta. “Where are my manners? Bunta, I am so sorry. What a way for us to make a first impression on you, I promise my life at home isn’t this crazy. Hanako, Sho, this is Bunta Fujiwara. Father of Takumi Fujiwara, one of the aces of Project D, the team Royosuke Takahashi leads. They’re currently in America, which can probably explain why all this is happening.” Akihiko paused and scratched the back of his head, without any more words to say the man grinned modestly.

Sho stepped forward and extended a hand, “Mr. Fujiwara, it is an honor to finally meet you. You have my gratitude for helping my father though this.”

“I’m just doing my job Sho.” Bunta returned the handshake.

A tiny bark shifted attention to Hanako who now stood up and walked towards the older gentleman. She was much shorter than Bunta and yet she had the tall noble air about her that made her presence seem so much larger than the small woman in a sky blue summer yukata. She gazed Bunta for a little while as a jeweler would examine a gem before setting it into their work, she bowed lightly, “Hanako Shino, Akihiko’s wife. It’s a pleasure to have you as company today.”

Bunta smiled at her and returned the bow, “Bunta Fujiwara. I am honored to be here today. Thank you for having me.” Hanako smiled warmly at the visitor as he seemed to pass the nonverbal trial that she administered.

Katsuko whispered something in her brother’s ear and darted through the door. Akihiko looked curiously at his daughter as her small figured whisped out of view. He was about to open his mouth to ask something when his son answered his question. “Kat made cookies for everyone and she forgot them in the oven.” He smirked as he said the last part and started for the door. The pup followed him out leaving only the adults in the room.

“Akihiko, Hanako… I’m sorry about all of this trouble I’ve caused you…”

Before he could finish his sentence Hanako shook her head lightly and reached out, touching him lightly on the arm to silence him, “Bunta… you have done nothing wrong.” She looked at him kindly.

“Bunta, this secret was eating away at my very being so you did me a favor. Thank you.” Akihiko looked younger as he smiled.

Katsuko popped back into the room, “Mom! Dad! Mr. Fujiwara! I made tea and cookies for everyone. We’re waiting in the living room for you.” She darted away without waiting for a reply.

Did someone say update? I know its been a really stupid long time and I'm really sorry if anyone was still waiting on how I resolved this. With Meteor's return I got back in the writing mood and whipped something up really really fast. I know its short but hopefully I can get some more out in the upcoming months. I'm really busy lately but I'll try my hardest! Enjoy guys.

~Chapter 24: Warm Up~

Alastair sighed heavily after hanging up the phone. His conversation with Akihiko Tomoyuki was brief, but in the short five minutes there were tears, anger, joy, and sorrow. According to the distant voice on the phone, Bunta Fujiwara left shortly after tea with the Tomoyuki family. The cool evening air whipped around Alastair and the rest of the Project D group as they watched the sunset over the city from the vista point high above. It was a tad bit hard to believe that this entire situation only took a day to resolve. Alastair pocketed his phone and looked at the downhill ace of Project D. “I don’t know how your old man did it… But he did. Thanks Takumi.”

The young driver looked at the music producer as he stood against the fading rays of sunlight, the warm slivers of orange light radiated from his shadowy figure. Takumi couldn’t help but smile at how well all this actually turned out, “No problem Alastair, I’m really glad I could help. So what’s next for you?”

“I’m going to continue with my music career. I’m on the verge of hitting it big now and with this whole ordeal solved, I feel like I can finally move on with my life.” He looked at all the people gathered on the vista point; everyone from Project D, Perry, and Zach. “Well guys, thank you for everything. I’ll see you around.”

With that the music producer climbed into his car and drove off without a second look back. Perry turned to his friends and smiled, “Good thing we got this all figured out. So Zach, what’s next for you?”

Zach looked out at the twilit landscape for a moment before answering, “Hm… I think I’m going to keep going with the music thing too. I know that if I’m persistent enough, I’ll make something of myself.” He turned to his car and unlocked it.

“Mhm… I wish you the best of luck, so you’re off too?”

“Yup” And without another word he started his car and headed back towards the city.

The murmur of the city below grew as the little sun disappeared over the horizon. Night settled upon Perry and the gang. “I’m hungry.” Kenta blurted out, everyone laughed and agreed it was time to get going.

---------------------------

“Holy crap! What is happening?!?” Lena tried to turn the steering in vain to avoid hitting the curb that was at least two meters away. Her hands moved randomly in a poor semblance of shifting as the car jerked to a stop in third gear. She stalled. Again. “Damn it! I’m never going to get this right!” She punched the steering wheel in frustration, the car’s horn echoed in the empty parking lot.

“Stop doing that! Do you want us to get in trouble!?” Hissed the passenger. His hands waived furiously over the wheel of the car to prevent her from hitting it again. “Now keep your foot on the clutch and try again. You managed to get into third so you are making progress. Why did you stall this time?”

“Because your stupid car doesn’t have power steering.” As she stomped on the clutch and turned the key. She grabbed the shifter and placed it gingerly into first gear. Sighing, “Do I have to try this again? I don’t want to.”

“Come on Lena! You’re really close to getting it down! At least you don’t stall in first anymore.”

“Ugh fine. I’ll try one more time.” Feathering the clutch and accelerator the car grumbled as it started to move.

“Ok listen for the sound of the engine. You should be shifting into second now.” The engine’s crescendo dropped as the car lurched forward at her messy clutch work. She stared at him worriedly before returning her attention to the tachometer. “Shift again.” Third gear. “Good! Now keep this speed and try to turn using both hands because my car doesn’t have power steering.” He laughed.

As she started to round the corner her foot let off the gas. The engine screamed and jerked to a halt. Again she stalled. “You know what Dex? Forget it! I’m done. I don’t want to learn how to drive a manual anymore. This is harder than brain surgery!” She unfastened her seatbelt and quickly got out of the car, kicking the door shut as she stormed off.

“Lena!” He also got out of the car and sprinted to catch up to her; he wrapped his arms around her waist. “You didn’t expect to get it your first couple of times did you?”

“No. But I didn’t expect it to be so difficult.” She pouted and broke away from his grasp.

She punched the steering wheel in frustration, the car’s horn echoed in the empty parking lot.

“Stop doing that! Do you want us to get in trouble!?” Hissed the passenger. His hands waived furiously over the wheel of the car to prevent her from hitting it again.

The comma in the first one would look better as a semi-colon, and in the second one, "waived" should be "waved".

And with that done; this was a pretty short chapter that's only really here to get the fic going again, but even then it still shows things I like about this fic and your writing in general. I've already typed a bunch about how well you do in painting scenes with words, and because you can probably do without me repeating myself here, I will just say you've still got it, and the whole first part of this chapter stands as proof of that. Like all your other readers, I'll definitely be glad to see more updates. I can expect the chapters to come to have such consistently great writing to them as well.

(And now for all the other stories I'm supposed to review...)

So how is the real life Lena presently faring with manuals in comparison to this chapter's Lena?

Oh dang. Over 2 years? I guess I should put this thing to rest finally. I'm not sure how many people are still following this. Whether you be an old or new reader. Thank you for being so patient with me! I'm sorry if I didn't get around to writing everyone in. Life happened and I have gotten so busy. Anyway, here's the conclusion to the meta story that might have been too bg of an undertaking! I hope you guys enjoy. A conclusion is typically the end. But maybe I'm not quite done yet... You never know...

~Chapter 25 – sell out~

Keisuke stood motionless in the hall focused on the wall in front of him. He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow in concentration. Lena shambled into the hall way. Half asleep she looked at the tall young man. The past two years in the states have actually treated him well; she continued to shamble towards him and when he finally noticed her presence he gave her a sideways glance and nodded. Together they looked to the wall and stared at the giant map of the United States. The morning sun illuminated the hallway just enough for both of them to see the numerous pearl red sewing pins embedded into the wall.

After a minute Keisuke seemed to finally understand the magnitude of the meaning behind the pins. He grinned and placed a hand on the map, making sure to avoid knocking out all the pins in the wall, “Holy crap. Two whole years here Lena, three states, dozens of races—I don’t even remember how many! But Project D is finished. We are the undisputed masters of the touge. I can’t believe it. Lena. Am I dreaming?”

“Oh my god Keisuke stop being such a drama queen! Do you know how early it is?” Kenta walked into the hallway and punched his superior in the arm. Keisuke looked at his teammate. Kenta was much more skilled and looked pretty old for his age. The rest of the members of Project D filed into the hallway and stared at the map.

Lena looked around at all the ace drivers and the support crew. A tear welled up in the corner of her eye. Two years, so many races. Dex was recently accepted into Project D’s new Wangan department and scheduled to travel with them back to Japan to embark on their new adventures. Dex stood among Takumi, Fumihiro and the others; he looked dead tired but still happy somehow. She walked into his arms and stood for a moment in his embrace. Inhaling deeply, a hint of motor oil and the sweet of hazelnut creamer. She looked up from his chest and smiled softly. He knew this was going to be the last time that they were going to be this close. A tear rolled down his cheek has he grinned and kissed her on the forehead. “Lena, I’m sorry...”

She shushed him quickly by nuzzling her face back into his chest. “Shut up stupid. I know you need to do this. It’s ok! I think this is the best for both of us.” she shouted. Her words were muffled into his shirt.

Perry walked into the crowd of people who were now standing before the wall. He slowly turned a mug of chrysanthemum tea in his hands, appreciating the meticulously placed pins on the map. “I’m impressed. You guys managed to do it… but all stories must eventually come to an end. That does not mean that life is over though! All of us have a new chapter to write! I’m glad everyone is up this early in the morning. Your flight back to Japan is in a couple of hours.”And with that, everyone went back to their rooms to finish up packing for their trip home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At the airport after all the heartfelt goodbyes Project D plus one boarded the plane. Perry and Lena stood in the parking lot next to an immaculate white Impreza watching a jet eclipse the sun. “Perry, do you think that all of this was a good idea?”

“Of course Lena! Did things go wrong? Yes, but thus is life. You must learn to let go of the things that are out of your control. Are you sure that you’re ok with Dex leaving like this?”

She smiled as the jet passed and revealed the sun again, “Life took him in a different direction. We were slowly drifting apart anyway. I’m glad it ended like this.”

“I see.” Perry looked at her. “I still can’t believe that you managed to organize all this…”

“Thus is life Perry! We are all full of surprises. Never forget.” She unlocked the car.

“Of course.” He nodded and got into the passenger seat.

The boxer engine roared to life and started down the parking lot to home.

And so with an update out of the blue, it's over all of a sudden. Can't say I was expecting I'd eventually see this when I tried and failed to get adequate sleepwoke up today. It's been a journey alright. And now's the part where I'm supposed to come up with a post of decent length in response to it. Funny, I had a post half thought out in my head, but it turns out I actually didn't.

Well, time to think it out some more (and hope I come up with something that doesn't suck).

I have to say though, this end to the journey is a bit, well, by itself. It's an end to the journey, but it just feels like we skipped the journey itself to get here. If the intent was to have me wanting more down the line (should that end up happening): well played, because I actually am wanting more down the line.It has the expected good stuff from you in it though. Once again, you do very well in setting mood and atmosphere - through both character actions and descriptions of the environment around them. And once again, the character acting itself isn't badly done, with emotional key points in particular clearly carrying the feel they're supposed to have. My words can't always do justice to the good points about your writing, but the signs of it are definitely still here, even with the small amount of room they have to make themselves felt.But I must admit, it's still just kinda jarring how it just skips to the end like this and then ends in very little time. It just feels... incomplete. I understand that you've been needing to put some things behind you though, and sometimes one just has to finish their work too. With this, you've brought this story to a close rather than keeping it at a standstill forever, and you can now better move on to other chapters (metaphorical or otherwise). I'll take this ending over nothing at all.

(I'd still be up for more though, whether it's this story or a different one. With how you're saying this might not be the end, I can't help but hope )

So yeah, this story's over with. Thanks for all the pleasant reading material up to now, and I sincerely wish you the best regarding whatever's next for you.And if you ever decide to make a big return to writing, just know you'll always have people here ready for more